San Miguel Beer head coach Leo Austria heaped praise on his players who showed resilience despite being down by as many as 23 points against Magnolia in the title clincher of the PBA Philippine Cup at Mall of Asia Arena on Friday.

The Beermen took the whole fourth quarter and two overtimes to outwork the stubborn Hotshots, close the series 108-99, and take home an unprecedented fourth straight All-Filipino crown.

“This championship really is for the players who showed they have the heart of champions. We're down by 20 points and we're able to get back and go through overtime,” said Austria, who won his sixth title in as many conferences.

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“(It’s) the character that impressed me with the players. Maybe that is because of our spirit and a lot of our championship (experience) . . . 'yung pride nila hindi na mawawala dahil they know the glory of winning a championship.”

Nevertheless, Austria thanked Magnolia head coach Chito Victolero and co. for bringing their A game in Game 5, adding that the Hotshots were a team they were wary of at the start of the season.

“Talagang pinahirapan nila kami,” Austria said.

Magnolia built its largest lead on a Kyle Pascual basket that put the Hotshots ahead 71-48 with less than 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Beermen chipped away at the deficit to make it 74-60 heading into the fourth, where the reigning champs resorted to some championship defense.

In the quarter, they limited the Hotshots to 5 field goals using a suffocating trapping scheme that rattled the Hotshots.

In the face of a strong push by San Miguel, Magnolia was still on the cusp of extending the series, holding an 86-81 lead with 65 seconds left.

But the Beermen's poise coupled with the Hotshots' relative inexperience as a unit enabled San Miguel to complete the comeback.

A well-designed play led to a June Mar Fajardo bucket and a dagger 3-pointer by Arwind Santos off a frantic offensive set tied the game and sent it to the first overtime.

By the time the extra sessions rolled in, San Miguel drew on its advantage of a battle-tested core used to playing heavy minutes.

Four of San Miguel's 5 starters played more than 50 minutes each while Magnolia, used to spreading playing time, struggled with a tight rotation.

“Sabi nila 'yung championship namin is always a record, my coaching career is always a record,” Austria said. “(But) I'm not looking at it like that.”

“Every game for me is a championship game and that's the attitude I wanted to impart to each and every player we have.”

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